Pompey v Yeovil: The Opposition View

The players aren’t quite heading off on their summer holidays just yet.

With the way form is going, fans are going to need another three points, I think, just to put minds at rest this season.

There’s been a lot of draws lately and the disappointing thing has been the nature of some of those.

The Exeter game was pretty terrible losing a three-goal lead in the last five minutes. That was a nightmare.

On top of that, there’s been games against Cambridge and Leyton Orient where the lead was lost in the last few minutes.

These are the results which have made the difference between finishing comfortably in mid-table and still not quite being safe.

The manager is starting to come under a little bit of pressure from some sections of support. It’s not something I believe should happen and, in a way, I do feel for him.

To be honest, I think it’s supporters being frustrated at a bad run.

When there were a couple of good results in March you didn’t hear talk of it then.

Two key factors to go against him have been the absence of Otis Khan and loss of Ryan Hedges.

They played in the front three, but Khan has been out since January and Hedges was injured just before the Pompey game in December.

Just before he was about to come back to full fitness he left for Barnsley with Swansea – who he was on loan from – selling him.

So they’ve lost their two most attacking players and it’s been a struggle to come to terms with that.

Matt Butcher sounds like a talking point ahead of the game with his Portsmouth links.

Darren Way could switch from a 4-4-2 with Ben Whitfield suspended.

If he does, it’ll be to 4-3-3 and Butcher will most likely play as the holding midfielder.

It’s been a rough patch, but Yeovil aren’t going to go down and I’d stick with Way for the first few months of next season, at least.

I definitely would’ve said Whitfield was the one to watch a week ago.

But he’s gone and got himself sent off against Carlisle, so he’s suspended.

In his absence, Francois Zoko is the danger man for Portsmouth to watch out for.

He’s the top scorer with 12 goals and has generally been the one to step up when needed.

The team has been struggling to score goals and he can be the one to produce a bit of magic.